In my opinion they are rip offs, only they became better than the very band they were ripping off. The same way Jocelyn Wildenstein ripped off Zooey Deschanels face but then became the slightly better looking one.
by this logic, every band that uses an electric guitar is a Les Paul rip off.
but no, I don't think they are a weezer rip off. they were influenced by weezer, for sure
I like to consider Ozma as Weezer's younger brother rather than not rip offs.. A younger brother often learns from their older brother style but makes it their own by adding their own flavor to their style. They just learn from them and happen to be similar. Ozma uses much more keyboard and girl background vocals than weezer.Also ozma's melodies tend to be more extensive. They also experimented with sounds and ideas that weezer has not experimented with. Take for example the "Russian Cold Fusion" style or the song "I wonder"
Young brothers rip off older brothers. Like the way older sister Zooey got her face ripped off by younger sister Katy and then became the better looking one.
rip off or not R&Rpt3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> than green album and everything after and comparable to blue and pinkyshtein